The score of DNA damage increased throughout the length of exposure,
both to lead and to MMS. Red blood cells exposed to lead for 6 h
showed score of damage significantly higher than the cells exposed
to Pb for only 1 h (p = 0.011); the same pattern was observed for
erythrocytes exposed to MMS, the scores of damage after 3 and 6 h
exposure were significantly higher than after 1 h (p < 0.001) (Fig. 5).
After 6 h of exposure to Pb the frequency of nucleoids classified as
class 2 was higher than after 1 and 3 h, and it was observed nucleoid